Micah Putnam and Debbie Duran Named to All-Big West Softball Team

A survey of the Big West Conference coaches saw two Matadors named to the 2009 All-Big West Sofbtall team, the league announced Tuesday. Senior Micah Putnam earned All-Big West Second Team honors for her work at second base and junior Debbie Duran took home All-Big West Honorable Mention accolades for her work in the circle.

Putnam, one of the team's two seniors in 2009, finished the season with a bevy of new career highs, highlighted by her .294 batting average, 34 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. She also led the Matadors in sac bunts for the third time in four years. Finally, Putnam also registered 20 runs scored, 40 hits, eight doubles, two triples and four home runs.

A team captain, Putnam improved her batting average every year at CSUN and finished with a four-year average of .255. She leaves Northridge having played in 184 games, making 182 starts. She is graduating this spring with a degree in child and adolescent development and hopes to pursue a career in counseling.

During her final season with the Matadors, she blasted a sixth-inning grand slam in CSUN's 4-1 victory over Portland State on Mar. 7. Putnam also set a new career high with four hits against Cal Poly on Apr. 18 and hit a team-high .316 against Big West teams.

Duran finished her first year at Northridge at 18-12 with a 2.43 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 176.0 innings of work, all of which were the top numbers among CSUN pitchers. She added two saves and 15 complete games on the year and also picked up notable victories over 2009 NCAA Tournament participants Texas, San Diego State and Fresno State.

Perhaps Duran's highlight of the season came when she went 6-0 with a 0.76 ERA from Mar. 8-15, as Northridge successfully completed an undefeated run at the San Diego Classic II in addition to a win over the Longhorns. She earned Big West Co-Pitcher of the Week honors for that performance.

As a team, Northridge finished 29-21 overall and 9-12 in the conference, good for a tie for fourth place. Head Coach Barbara Jordan picked up her 200th career victory in a 5-3 victory against UC Riverside on Apr. 26. The Matadors defeated six teams currently participating in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and also won two preseason tournaments.